morning for "starting point." happening now in the "newsroom." >> lance armstrong has no place in cycling. >> lance armstrong is stripped of his seven tour de france titles and banned from cycling. gas prices dropped eight cents and could tumble another 30 cents. why some analysts say many of us could soon be paying less than 3 bucks a gallon. a heated debate over same-sex marriage in maryland divides the african-american community with the naacp on one side and the african-american clergy on the other. thou shall not tebow. the quarterback makes a move to keep people from profiting on tebowing. tebowing. "newsroom" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning to you. happy monday. i'm carol costello. we start with breaking news this morning. cycling's governing body today handed down a so-called death sentence to lance armstrong. the group stripped armstrong of

his seven tour de france titles and banned him from the start. it follows the anti-doping agency finding of overwhelming evidence that armstrong doped. >> we are here to answer your questions and to say to the cycling community, uci is listening and is on your side. we have come too far in the fight against doping to return to our past. cycling has a future, and something like this must never happen again. >> but that's not all. another sponsor, oakley sunglasses, announced it will no longer sponsor lance armstrong. bill strickland is bicycling magazine's aeditor at large and author of tour de lance. it's mind boggling, this colossal fall. >> inevitable at this point. but mind boggling when you hear the words. the seven tours, look at what he

has won. now just a handful of races. it's going to be tough for people to deal with from here on out. >> lance armstrong was at an event just yesterday. he didn't really address the doping agency's findings. he was at a livestrong event. here's what he said. >> obviously, it's been an interesting, and as i said the other night, at times very difficult few weeks. people ask me a lot, how you doing? i tell them, i say, well, i've been better. but i've also been worse. >> of course, i wasn't there. but it struck me there was no reaction at all from the crowd as he said those words. >> well, people don't know how to react. he still has some level of supporters. but i think even those supporters faced with the thousand pages of the report and now this official ruling and the dropping of all the sponsors, i think everyone has to re-evaluate lance even those who still want to support him. >> of course, this isn't over for lance armstrong.

what might come next? >> there's still the possibility that the federal investigation could be reopened. people might start going to him to get some of their money back, sponsorship. there's a highly publicized case, sca, that paid him a bonus for winning the tour. some of us think that now just as this was inevitable, some sort of admission or confession seems to be inevitable. i can't see how he can get around that now. >> we'll see. bill strickland, thank you so much for sharing your insight this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. all right. let's turn to politics now. tonight's third and final presidential debate. in a month that's seen mitt romney surge and president obama stumble. tonight's showdown could be all that's needed to tip the scales from this deadlocked race. romney walks in with the most approved according to to a "washington post"/abc news poll. only 40% of registered voters believe he would do a better job at handling international

affairs. that's compared to half for president obama. both men will be gunning for that 5% that's uncommitted. white house correspondent brianna keilar is in boca raton, florida, for the primetime face-off. brianna, by all accounts romney won the first debate. at least held his own in the second. as a former governor, he has no foreign policy experience. so does that put him at a huge disadvantage tonight? >> reporter: you know, that would put him at a disadvantage in terms of his grasp of the subject matter. president obama has four years of hands on experience with foreign policy. and you just can't beat that. but we're in this really interesting situation where the president is also very vulnerable to mitt romney because of what has happened in libya in recent weeks. and because his administration is under fire for their handling of this situation there. of the four americans who were killed at the benghazi consulate. and also amid questions of whether this couldn't have been prevented.

so some of the things that these candidates are going to be trying to achieve today, sources from the romney campaign telling our dana bash that he's looking to project a calmer demeanor than, perhaps, we saw at the last debate. that he wants to obviously hit president obama on libya. and that he's going to try and make a turn back to the economy when he can. because obviously this is his comfort zone as far as the subject matter goes. for president obama, he's going to try and point out some of romney's foreign policy blunders. we saw some of those on mitt romney's foreign trip. he's going to try to hit him for a lack of specifics. and he's going to try and paint him as unpresidential. the obama campaign already out today with an ad and a memo, doing as much on that front, carol, trying to paint mitt romney as bellicose and not ready. so get ready, because this is what we're going to see tonight. >> we will be ready, brianna keilar reporting live from boca raton, florida. for many americans the big question about tonight's debate it be another bare knuckled brawl like the last one?

that debate just last tuesday had a number of fiery, short tempered moments. one example, this exchange over the president's handling of the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. >> there were many days that passed before we knew whether this was a spontaneous demonstration or actually whether it was a terrorist attack. there was no demonstration involved. it was a terrorist attack. and it took a long time for that to be told to the american people. whether that was some misleading or instead whether we just didn't know what happened, i think you have to ask yourself why didn't we know five days later when the ambassador to the united nations went on tv to say that this was a demonstration, how could we have not known? >> and the suggestion that anybody in my team or the secretary of state or u.n. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. that's not what we do.

that's not what i do as president. that's not what i do as commander in chief. >> so it's safe to say you can expect more of that. we're going to talk much more about this later on in the "newsroom." it is a shame more people don't vote in the united states. a crime, really. so what do you do? a neighborhood in los angeles had a novel idea. these fliers were apparently passed around offering free weed, you know, as in pot, with proof of voting in eagle rock's local election. the flier listed candidates of the progress and collaboration slate who ran against others who oppose pot dispensaries. some voters weren't too happy about this. >> this marijuana issue is a travesty of american justice. how could anyone believe that the intellect will survive running against a candidate that is enlisting the community's drug addiction for $40 for a

voucher, to get a free drug voucher. >> reports say ten times as many people turned out to vote in this year's election than in past elections. there's no proof the fliers were a motivation. progress members say the fliers did not belong to them. all right. let's head out to boca raton, florida. paul steinhauser is standing by. wanted to talk a little bit more about the debate and if it will be as contentious as the last debate. take it away, paul. >> reporter: carol, that's the big question. are we going to pick up where we left off just last week at the town hall debate in new york state? remember, they were battling over a lot of issues. especially libya and especially china. are we going to see some more of that? maybe. here's why. take a look at the format of the debate, carol. there are going to be six 15-minute segments. after bob schieffer the moderator asks his question and each candidate gets about two minutes to answer, you're going to have anywhere from eight to ten more minutes for the candidates to kind of mix it up. that wide format could allow for

some back and forth between the two candidates. here's the reason why you may not see that. take a look at the live picture. this is the debate hall inside at lynn university. they're going to be sitting around a table very much like the have the vice presidential debate. two candidates close to each other. they won't be able to walk in next to each other like last week at the town hall debate. when you're sitting that close to your opponent, maybe it brings a little more of a civil exchange. we'll find out tonight, carol. >> i'm going to miss them walking around and stalking each other. i kind of enjoyed that. what else should we be looking for tonight? >> reporter: here's one thing i'm definitely looking forward to. and you mentioned it with brianna a few minutes ago. i call it the pivot. the this is a debate about foreign policy. we all know the top issue on the minds of the american voters remains the economy. are these candidates going to pivot and talk about the economy even if they started talking about foreign policy? i think the answer is yes. especially when china comes up,

k china and trade, you'll see both candidates talk about jobs and maybe ohio, carol. >> my people will decide it as usual. paul steinhauser live in boca raton, florida. you will likely have some extra cash this holiday season. gas prices already are down eight cents in the last two weeks to a national average of $3.67. gas prices are expected to drop another 30 cents by late november. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. why are gas prices dropping now? >> there are a few things happening all at once. for one, carol, the supply crunch in california that's been happening there is kind of easing off a bit. there was a power outage at one refinery there. a fire at another refinery. what that did is it caused prices in california to spike earlier this month. also there's a decline in crude oil prices themselves. oil makes up a majority of our gasoline prices. those have actually been coming down since the beginning of

september. then we've got the typical seasonal slowdown that you all can see after the peak summer driving season. what's happening is there's less demand, which means we don't see stations raising their prices. plus what these refineries do is they switch to a cheaper fuel this time of year, what's known as winter grade. they no longer year the cleaner, more expensive summer blend from a couple of months ago. roll all that together. that brings down gas prices ever so slightly. noticeable. you drive by the gas station, you see the drop. you say, wow, finally, carol. >> and with no help from either presidential candidate those gas prices came down. how amazing. >> isn't it? shocking. >> of course, the price of gas has an impact on all kinds of things. maybe holiday shopping? >> it could. you know what, that's a good point. it could be a good sign. especially since high gas prices are often cited for holding people back from spending on other things. if prices continue this downward trend you may see shoppers willing to drive to different stores, go out of their way a little bit more, spend a little more when they get there. in fact, look at the national

retail federation. it says holiday sales are expected to go up more than 4% this year. i don't know if you've been in the stores lately. they're offering big incentives like layaway and price matching. even if people are nervous about gas prices, retailers are doing what they can to lure in shoppers and get them to spend more. carol? >> alison kosik reporting live from the new york stock exchange. get the remote ready and the dvr rolling. it's going to be an action packed night of television. the debate, monday night football and the national league championship series all at once. a word about baseball now since the nlcs will go to game seven. the san francisco giants beat st. louis 6-1 last night behind strong pitching by vogelsong. he struck out nine in seven innings of work holding the cardinals to just four hits. giants scored all the runs they needed in the second ining. marco scutaro had the biggest hit. that would be that two-run double. the two teams go at it again tonight weather permitting. the winner heads to the world series to take on the tigers. the race for the white house

comes down to the undecided voter. who is the undecided voter? and what the heck is keeping that voter from making up his mind?

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15 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories now. details about a deadly shooting in wisconsin. 45-year-old radcliffe haughton was targeting his estranged wife when he opened fire at a milwaukee area spa sunday. three women were killed, four others wounded. authorities have been working to identify all the victims. police found the suspect dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the spa. cuba steps up its efforts to douse any speculation fidel castro is on his death bed. a state run newspaper published an article under his name which scoffed at rumors. the article included pictures of castro reportedly taken on saturday. in money news, apple is expected to unveil its newest ipad. many believe it will be a smaller, lighter tablet called the ipad mini. no one will know for certain until tomorrow's announcement. in south florida, in the heart of blue florida, you see that blimp? a big, huge picture of mitt romney's face on the side.

well, sadly, it came crashing down. strong winds forced the blimp-like aircraft to make an emergency landing. it simply deflated and fell to the ground. >> it was floating backwards. it looked like it was actually coming down. it was strange. i thought, boy, mitt romney really wants us to vote for him. >> maybe it's an omen. maybe it'll be effective and work better. who knows? police say the pilot knew he couldn't make it to the airport. the pilot was not hurt. mitt romney and barack obama yearn for their vote, the elusive, mysterious undecided number. they're small in number. yet they could decide the election. at least that's what they say. proof of their importance, the last debate featured undecided voters asking the questions. and they are even now parodied on "saturday night live." >> before you get our vote,

you're going to have to answer some questions. questions like -- >> when is the election? how soon do you have to decide? >> what are the names of the two people running? and be specific. >> where is the president right now? is he or she running? >> joining me now is drew weston. he was also an informal adviser to the obama campaign. welcome. >> thanks for having me again. >> i can't wait to talk to you about this. so an undecided voter, seriously? we live in such partisan times. mitt romney's been running forever. barack obama is our president. the two men are as different as can be. what's to be undecided about? >> you know, it's a really interesting question. i think there's a couple things going on. one obviously is the "snl" piece sets it up. there is a group of people who just don't care all that much.

there's a bigger group of people who are really concerned about what's been going on for the last four years. they're struggling to pay the mortgage or their rent. if they've still got a yob, they're struggling with two or three jobs while taking care of their kids. a lot of them are women. a lot of them are single moms. what they feel on the one hand is things aren't good. on the other hand, they've been looking at mitt romney and thinking, he's not good. the debates have really changed that dynamic. i think suddenly it looks like there's an alternative to barack obama. >> just the profile of the undecided voter. it's interest ing. you mentioned that they watched the debate. this is according to to a poll released by politico and george washington university and examined by yahoo!. the undecided voter, they say, is typically a single white female between 18 and 29 years old. she has a job with a low income. it's a union household. she did not graduate from college. she's protestant but does not go to church. here's the big one.

according to this poll, she skipped watching the debate. with that kind of voter, if you're a candidate and you really need that voter, what do you say? because she doesn't appear to be all that engaged. >> you do a couple of things. one of them is that you get a really good get out the vote effort where you've got people going door to door talking about your candidate for you. for those people, the ad blitzes are not going to make that big of difference. the other is you'd be surprised how much people hear while they're making dinner of cnn out of the corner of their ears. they didn't watch the debate. what they're picking up is what they're hearing about what happened in the debate. they're seeing the clips of those debates. the one you showed a minute ago where the president basically gave mitt romney a scolding for, you know, i find that offensive. i thought that was a tremendously effective moment for him. even though romney came out swinging, he came back and said, as president, do you really think i wouldn't care about four of my own people dying? those are the kind of moments that they hear. >> so they hear moments. they don't really delve deeper

into a topic. but that moment is enough for them. >> what i tell candidates all the time, what i tell elected officials is, what you want to do is you want to speak in the language at the kitchen table. what people are doing is they're listening out of the corner of their ears while they're making dinner for their kids. you want to speak in plain language they can hear. they go, oh. maybe something will be different in the next four years. or on the other hand they think maybe i'll give this guy a shot because i'm struggling. >> just on the subject of undecided voters, deciding the election, really? they're only 1% to 2% of the electora electorate. some of them may not even vote. why wouldn't it be white men deciding the election or african-americans and hispanics? which is a much bigger voting population? >> you're asking the right questions. i think what most -- what both campaigns are now doing is they're now making sure that their base comes out. romney's base is now excited. it's so interesting because he's

moved far to the left of everything that he said during the primaries. you have to do that. you have to please the pot for fox news listeners in order to win the republican primaries. which means you're getting -- you're working with people who are ignorant. >> oh, drew! >> sorry. i don't mean to be partisan towards cnn. the reality is they have a point of view. they've been taught a series of things which mitt romney is smart enough to know isn't true. what he had to do is to get through that. what both sides are doing now is obama knows that he's got to get -- president obama knows he has to get people on his side excited. he's done a lot of things that's got them unexcited. it may well be the difference between the likely voters, where it's right now 47/47, versus the registered voters, where obama has a much bigger advantage. that's probably going to be more important than the undecided voter. >> yeah. the likely voters are the excited voters.

that may be good for romney. drew westen, thank you so much. >> happy to be on. there is one thing president obama and mitt romney can agree on. rg3. we'll hear what they had to say about the redskins' rookie quarterback and bringing washington together. [music: artist: willy moon song: "yeah yeah" label: universal] ♪ everybody well don't you know it's me now? ♪ ♪ yeah who's it, who's it huh? ♪ ♪ willy's back with a brand new beat now, ♪ ♪ yeah doin' it doin' it up! ♪ heyyy yeah, tryin' to bite my style! ♪ ♪ heyyy yeah, how you like me now? ♪ ♪ na na na na na na na na ♪ and everybody go uh!

now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, yes, it's your turn. seriously? are there still undecided voters? 15 days to the election. hard to believe, right? it seems this election has been going on since time began. most of you want it to be over already. except maybe those undecided voters. i mean, seriously, how could that be? mitt romney's been running for president since forever. and everybody knows barack obama, our president for the past four years. and the two men are like cats and dogs. as different in economic policy as you can be. i'm not the only one befuddled. the great undecided are now the butt of jokes. >> when is the election? >> what are the names of the two

people running? and be specific. >> who is the president right now? is he or she running? because, if so, experiences may be something we should consider. >> how long is the president's term of office? one year? two years? three years? or life? >> if you're wondering who the experts say those undecided voters are, business insider analyzed a poll released by politico and george washington university and came up with this composite. she is a white protestant, 18 to 29-year-old single woman employed, not a college grad, a self-identified independent who splits tickets when voting. lives in a union household and is considered low income. yes, she did not watch the debates. to win the election, obama and romney will have to find this elusive voter and win her over. so for the next 15 days, get ready to be bombarded with political ads, whether you're decided or not. the talk back question for you

this morning. seriously? are there still undecided voters? facebook.com/carolcnn. facebook.com/carolcnn. your responses later this hour. few issues divide americans like the topic of same-sex marriage. now voters in maryland get to decide what they want. we'll take a look at how the issue is dividing in in the african-american community. meet the 5-passenger ford c-max hybrid. when you're carrying a lot of weight, c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid.

good morning to you. happy monday. 30 minutes past the hour. i'm carol costello. stories we're watching right now in the "newsroom." the opening bell at the new york stock exchange rang just seconds ago. stock futures are up with investors waiting for more corporate earnings reports. last friday stocks saw their worst day since june falling 200 points after several companies

released disappointing earnings. as you can see, the folks at seadrill partners rang the bell this morning. the world of cycling's governing body strips lance armstrong of his seven tour de france titles. within the last hour armstrong's final major sponsor, eyeglass maker oakley, severed its ties. this follows the release of evidence against armstrong by the u.s. anti-doping agency. armstrong stepped down as the head of his livestrong charity foundation. in beirut four people are dead in more violence following friday's car bombing that killed lebanon's intelligence chief. anti-government protesters and security forces have clashed all weekend long. protesters blame syria for the assassination. by most accounts, mitt romney won the first presidential debate. and the president evened the score in round two. so tonight, it's the rubber match. the focal point in this best of three showdown is foreign policy. joining me now are cnn

contributors l.z. granderson who leans left and will cain who leans right. welcome, gentlemen. >> good morning. >> good morning, carol. >> i'm going to steal a page from "saturday night live." first question, libya. l.z.? >> was that a question? go for it, l.z. >> you had to watch "snl" to get it. >> oh, libya. the important thing for the president tonight to do is to make sure when we talk about libya and what's going on there, that it doesn't start with the attack that happened at the embassy. but actually it starts before that about how he handled the situation when the rebels were rising up and there was criticism about whether or not we should send troops in to help in that fight. he opted not to do that. he opted to get the entire nation around him and then we saw him using drone attacks and no fly zones and gadhafi is now dead. we didn't lose any u.s. soldiers because of it. he needs to start with that particular point of the libya discussion and not solely what

happened at the embassy. >> will, word is governor romney won't be as aggressive in his questions. he'll be more, i don't know, i don't know if calm is the right word. but businesslike. maybe that's the right word. >> well, yes. some of that tonally, interrupting candy crowley, attempting to interrupt the president, talking about whose turn it is and how much time is left, that doesn't come off appealing to anyone. on libya, i would suggest mitt romney should try a question that's a little more direct but less specific. i like l.z.'s recommendation that we talk about libya going back much further than just september 11th of this year. i agree with l.z. we should talk about the rebellion. we should talk about the united states' role in it. we should also talk about the security at the benghazi consulate leading up to the attack on september 11th. and finally, this is the question i wish mitt romney would have asked, carol. not specifically about what words were uttered in the rose garden. but why did your administration give the american people the impression for up to two weeks after the event that it was a spontaneous protest, attack, part of a protest to a video.

just answer that. why did susan rice and jay kearney in your administration give us that impression. >> something else sure to come up is this idea of an apology tour conducted by the president. if you look at the drudge report this morning on the cover of the drudge report you see there are many pictures of president obama supposedly bowing to foreign leaders. on the heels of the "new york times" reporting that the obama administration is ready to sit down with iran and talk about nukes after the election, how will this play into the whole debate thing, l.z.? >> you know, i'm -- if all the -- all the things that the president has done his 3 1/2 and four years in office i'm most proud of the way he handled foreign policy. let me tell you why. we spent a great deal of time talking about war and foreign policy. we're talking about it right now with libya. foreign policy. he's being criticized for quote, unquote, apologizing, this

apologist tour. i looked at what he said. nowhere in there is he saying i'm apologizing. he is being strategic. he is being intelligent. he's also saying to both us as well as the world that we've made some mistakes, yes. you've made some mistakes, too. let's admit our faults and move forward together. only together will we have a good country and a good planet. i don't understand why republicans are hung up on this apologist tour. there's nothing in transcripts to suggest he apologized. they're using it to make him look weak when admitting you're wrong is a strength. >> i've heard governor romney say that line a million times. i will not apologize for america. >> i can't be as certain about this as l.z. sounds like he is. here's the deal. mitt romney will criticize president obama's rhetoric, right? that's what he'll try to do in america's positioning around the world. i think he does run the risk of coming off petty when you criticize the commander in chief and the burdens and responsibilities that go with that. however, listen. l.z.'s response that, you know,

being someone who's part of a world community and we're all in this together for a greater planet sounds nice and flowery. but i'm not sure it achieves what you really want to achieve. not everybody in this world is in it together with you. in "new york times" this morning they quote an analyst from the brookings institute. not a conservative think tank. the brookings institute that said the world, middle east specifically, views america under obama as weak. if you stand up to them, they will back down. if you have a disagreement with america, just stand up to them. that's from the "new york times" and the brookings institute. >> it will be an interesting debate just as this was this morn ing. l.z. granderson, will cain, thanks so much. cnn's live debate cover begins tonight 7:00 p.m. eastern.

"us weekly" reporting eight time grammy award winner adele just gave birth to her biggest

accomplishments. a.j. hammer has all the details. >> big con garagelations to adele. she has reportedly given birth to a baby boy. a source close to the family is confirming the news to "people" magazine. this is adele's first child. you might remember she first made the announcement on her website back in june she and her boyfriend were expecting. we're still waiting for details about the birth. no word yet on the little guy's name. we've reached out to her representatives. hoping to hear back from them soon. one thing i've seen in the coverage, carol. very consistently. everyone is certain adele is going to be singing some great lullabies to her new baby. i must say it's the first time i'm actually jealous of an infant. >> i know. wouldn't that be great? that gives me a calm this morning for some reason. let's talk about garth brooks. he's inducted into the country music hall of fame. seems like that should have happened a long time ago. >> it sure tuz. finally he has joined the other nashville legends in the country music hall of fame. garth brooks was inducted to the hall on sunday night. it was clearly an emotional moment for him. he was seen tearing up on the

red carpet before the big event. of course, garth brooks has already achieved just about every other possible honor in the music business not to mention he's sold more than 128 million albums. this indiction like the well deserved cherry on top of an already extraordinary career. he was inducted, by the way, by his hero, george strait. he said hearing strait in college was his inspiration to become a country artist. con fwrgratulations to garth br this morning. >> catch a.j. tonight on hln 11:00 p.m. eastern. few issues divide americans like the topic of same-sex marriage. now voters in maryland, voters, get to decide what they want. we'll take a look at how it's dividing many in the african-american community, though. on gasoline. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and it's not just these owners giving the volt high praise.

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as you might expect the issue in maryland is contentious. especially within the african-american community. with the jclergy on one side an the naacp on the other. an historic fight in the battle for same-sex marriage is being fought out of rebecca murphy's maryland kitchen. >> i have gay and lesbian friends and family who are raising children. and, you know, having families and creating lives. and they deserve to be treated fairly and equally. >> reverend frank reid and his wife, marla, are fighting against it from their baltimore church. explain the importance of the institution to me. >> it is a holy ordinance. a sacred opportunity for a man and woman to come together. >> but these efforts inside maryland are dwarfed by what's going on outside the state. >> my name's mike. i'm calling on behalf of new yorkers united for marriage. >> new york major michael bloomberg gave a quarter of a million dollars to the maryland campaign along with hedge fund

manager paul sanger. former nfl commissioner lives in washington, d.c., but he ponied up $100,000. >> we are seeing large numbers of nongay people and large numbers of nongay money being contributed to this campaign. and that's part of how we've now grown, the majority for marriage nationwide. it's not because of gay people who support the freedom to marry. it's because nongay people, family members, neighbors, co-workers, loved ones, fellow citizens. >> there's a lot at stake. this could be the first time that voters approve marriage rights for gays and lesbians. >> the purpose of the money is to buy other voices. all right? who speak differently because most african-american pastors and churches in this season toe don't have a lot of money to make ads. >> black voters are key in this fight. 30% of the electorate. >> for me personally as an

african-american, it's hugely important that i make this public stand. because i believe that the more diversity of opinion can be demonstrated, the better. >> where 38 states have outlawed marriage for gays, six have marriage rights because of courts or legislatures. >> we've shown that we can win the freedom to marry in public opinion. we've shown that we can win the freedom to marry in courts. we've shown that we can win the freedom to marry in legislatures. the last barrier we now have to overcome is to show we can win the freedom to marry in an up or down vote on the ballot. >> more examples of how outside money is fueling the fire in maryland. the push for yes on question 6 which would legalize same-sex marriage has a $3.2 million war chest. a similar initiative in washington state has raised a little more than $10 million. a same-sex initiative in maine has pulled in about $3 million.

religious organizations like the knights of columbus have also poured in millions of dollars to defeat same-sex marriage initiatives. we'll find out what happens on election day. turning now to sports, a trademark for tebowing. the quarterback moves to control the phenomenon he started. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want.

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there's excitement back on the d.c. sports scene. you have the nationals reaching the baseball postseason and now rg3, he's taking the town by storm. what a fantastic finish. >> great in new jersey, big divisional game between the redskins and the giants, and robert griffin iii really showing how impressive he can be and he's on this uptick in terms of making his way through the league. i want to show you some highlights here, carol, of this game and how dynamic a player he is. in a tight game he ran for 89

yards on 9 carries, and then watch this, with his team down 20-16, beautiful teardrop pass to santana moss with 1:30 left in the game. you think they're in good shape, but eli manning is the crusty veteran, super bowl quarterback, and he hits victor cruz for 77 yards and a touchdown. cruz's dance is a little salsa move. he does that after every touchdown. >> he's going ton "dancing with the stars" soon. >> maybe. the giants win but it's good for washington because rg3 is really a dynamic young player and part of this upswing. >> and maybe he will run for office one day because the two guys running for president, they're into rg3, both of them mentioned rg3 over the weekend. let's listen. >> rg3 hasn't been in washington very long but he's already created change. joots tough to unite this city around anything, believe me, i know. but rg3 makes it look easy. >> so there you go. he is the ticket to like

bipartisan in washington. >> so of all these big issues, rg3 is the uniter. he's going to bring us all together, but i think both candidates would do well to align themselves with robert griffin iii. >> they think so too. >> he can't lose. >> let's talk about tim tebow. he's trademarked tebowing. what do you suppose he'll do with it now? >> well, before we tell what you he's going to do with it, let's get a little background on this. first of all, essentially tim tebow is a backup quarterback. he has limited skills, but he has an incredible sense of self. you see him with the jets. he had four carries and 12 yards in a loss to the patriots sunday. but in college won the heisman trophy and he has an amazing sense of self and i think that's what people gravitate to. in denver, made a big play, dropped to one knee, put the fist toed helped and tebowing was born. he saided trait marking is more to be used in the right way.

we wouldn't want tebowing to fall into the hands of evil. >> because satan might use it and god knows what he would do with it. what does the future hold for tebowing? >> it will go to some items and it also will help serve and fund charities in tim tebow's name. >> we were trying to think of like is there any other thing like that that's been trademarked? maybe three-peat? i think three-peat was trademarked but that didn't go anywhere. theic y -- the icky shuffle. that didn't go anywhere. >> i think we live in a time that something happens and it's in a t-shirt in 20 minutes. his reps are moving closer to trademarking. do you want to tebow with me right now? >> we're not allowed. they'll charge us. >> that's right. infringement. >> vince, thanks. for more top stories and a deeper look at tonight's game seven between the cardinals and

giants, check out bleacherreport.com. >> thanks, carol. our big talk back question of the day, seriously? are there still undecided voters? your responses next. it's hard to see opportunity in today's challenging environment. unless you have the right perspective. bny mellon wealth management has the vision and experience to look beyond the obvious. we'll uncover opportunities, find hidden risk,

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all right. talk back question this morning. seriously? are there still undecided voters? this from marti. it's so confusing right now all the lies and deception. it's like a soap opera where they leave you hanging on a friday. why mark, yeah, really, undecided? flip a coin. how can you be undecided? from julie, people do not like romney or obama. they want another option. some will vote third party, some won't vote at all. some will give in and vote for a candidate they really don't like. from an undecided johnny. medicare, medicaid, and social security are big and i have never trusted the republicans on this issue. i have not decided yet. and this from kevin, here's undecided, do i watch the debate or game seven?

keep the conversation going. facebook.com/carolcnn and thanks, as always, for your responses. next hour of cnn "newsroom" starts right now. happening now in the "newsroom," stripped. lance armstrong's seven tour de france titles taken away. how do armstrong and the world of cycling move on? final round, president obama and mitt romney go toe to toe one more time today. the latest poll shows the race is tied. here is a new incentive to vote. cast a ballot and score some medical marijuana. some are calling it burn out the vote. and teaching tolerance. promoting a gay lifestyle. school kids are caught in the middle of the debate. we cut through the spin to find out what's really going on. "newsroom" starts now. and good morning. thank you so much for being with us this morning. happy monday if that's possible. i'm carol costello.

we begin with tonight's third and final presidential debate. in a month that's seen mitt romney surge and president obama stumble, the showdown could be all that's needed to tip the scales in this deadlocked race. in fact, here is a new cnn poll of polls released just this morning. the merging of five national polls show the men are tied at, get this, 47%, among likely voters. some irony for you. white house correspondent brianna keilar is in boca raton, florida, for the prime time face-off. brian brianna, tell us how will tonight's debate differ from all the others? >> reporter: well, you know, one of the most interesting and i think obvious differences we're going to see, carol, is the seating arrangement. tonight president obama and mitt romney will be sitting very close together at the same table as the moderator. it's going to look kind of like the vice presidential debate, that setup when you saw vice president biden and congressman paul ryan. so it's going to look like that

instead of obviously last week where they were able to wander the floor during the town hall or they were at podiums, somewhat removed from each other and from the moderator. also tonight is all about foreign policy. there will be a little bit about china, but predominantly it will be focusing on the middle east. some of the things you're going to look for the candidates to do, some sources from the romney campaign talking to our dana bash have said he's going to try to come across with a calmer demeanor perhaps than we saw last week in new york. also, that he's going to try to hit president obama on libya. this was seen as a missed opportunity in last week's debate. so he's going to try to do that today. and also that he's going to try to bring some of this back to the economy because, let's be honest, his expertise isn't necessarily foreign policy. for president obama, he's going to try to point out mitt romney's foreign policy blunders. he took a foreign trip where he made some mistakes. he'll hit him for lack of

specifics, and also he'll do something that we're seeing already the campaign do today, try to paint romneys a not really ready to handle this, not really presidential. trying to paint him as bellicose, as not ready for that. there's a new ad out and a memo they put out. >> brianna keilar reporting live from boca raton, florida. mitt romney walks into tonight's debate with more to prove. accord to an "washington post post"/abc news poll half of voters say obama would do better handling international affairs. both men will be gunning for that 5% that's uncommitted. >> the challenge for president obama is going to be defining the middle east strategy going forward. i mean, he's had some successes, he's had some things that are still pretty murky. i think for romney there's a broad challenge, and that is how

do you drill down into specific policies? the republican party hasn't really figured out what a republican foreign policy looks like after the bush administration. i think romney's been uneager to really delve into that. >> so let's bring in cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein to expound on these points. ron serves as the editorial director of the national journal. i didn't want to leech anything out. >> thanks, carol. >> is that guy right? >> look, we're talking about a race that is in the national polls dead even at 47%/47 shrs which is not a great number for an incumbent president. how does each side fit it into their larger strategy? for mitt romney, i think jon is right. job number one is reassuring people he's up to the job, that he's ready to be president. that's what he was able to do substantially on the economy in the first debate. that's the job on foreign policy here in the third debate,

especially after that rocky trip this summer. i think for the president the question is can he fit the debate tonight again into his strategy in the end game, which seems to be very much foe kused on regaining strength among women that have moved away from him since that first debate. in the second debate he raised a lot of issues relating to women. i think tonight you will hear questioning about whether mitt romney is too quick to talk about war, particularly in regards to iran. >> most women i know don't like war. they want our military men and women to come home as in right now. so might that hurt mitt romney if he starts talking about iran and sort of war-like terms? >> i think it's very interesting. you saw joe biden try to open this door certainly in the debate with paul ryan. basically arguing not only on iran but also afghanistan and whether the troops are leaving in 2014. basically making the case that the republican ticket is too quick to talk about war. it's the converse of what the republicans are doing to obama in effect is trying to portray him as too soft. what mitt romney will say is,

look, if we are strong, our adversaries will do what we want without actually having to go to war, but i think this is a debate that does offer the president some opportunities to try to move down the lane that he opened in that second debate. clearly focusing on women for good reason. the two national polls out in it's last 48 hours have him trailing by double digits among white women. double the deficit from '08. there is some evidence there was women that were most affected by the romney defoperformance in t firs first debate. >> let's talk about the polls. there's so many and they're confusing and what do they mean? >> you know, if you're looking at national polling at this point, look at what's come out, on balance it's more ominous than reassuring for the president. that nbc/"wall street journal" poll or your poll of polls to have him at 47%, even in a tie for an incumbent to be that far

below 50% this close to an election is a little troubling. and that "wall street journal" poll only had him at 36% among white voters. his formula for success is 80% of minorities, 40% of whites. on the other hand, ohio looks better largely because working class whites in the upper midwest, auto bailout and bain are better for him than anywhere else in the country. as long as he has ohio where he's ahead, he's probably still a slight favorite. >> ron brownsteen, thanks so much. cnn's debate coverage starts tonight. legal action is being considered against those responsible for flyers being passed around eagle rock, california, but wait until you hear why. it will blow your mind, man. the flyers offered $40 worth of free medical grade marijuana if voters could prove they voted. the flyers included candidates of the progress and collaboration slate who ran against candidates who are opposed to pot dispensaries in the state.

eagle rock native and cnn national editor nick valencia joins me now. you're from those ports? >> we should say this is my hometown, where i was born and raised but i haven't lived there for six years now. >> don't give excuses right now. it's not everyday you hear that voters are being offered pot to vote. >> and that's what critics have multiple problems with this flyer. one, that it's inducing candidates they say to vote for a particular candidate while offering them a monetary compensation. we reached out to the local los angeles city councilman's office that representing this district. this is what he tells cnn. he said my office has referred this matter to the city attorney's offense and d.o.n.e. i will also be introducing a motion seeking a rule change for the he will jent in stakeholder status, this is very important, so that only those who are truly invested in the communy can vote during neighborhood council elections. what's a stakeholder? this is a thing, a provision in this election allows you could go to my hometown, by a starbucks cup of coffee, and be

eligible to vote. we reached out to the president listed on this slate that was endorsed by this flyer, and he says he had nothing to do with it. he completely distanced himself from this flyer. take a listen. >> like i said, i had no knowledge of the flyer, and speaking with the other candidates on the slate, i know they had no knowledge of the flyer again until the day of the election when it was passed around. >> so he's distanced himself from it altogether. he's saying actually it's his opponents, this falls in line with the mudslinging his opponents have been doing the entire campaign. >> in order for any action to be taken, they really have to figure out who is behind these flyers. >> and whoever did it is very crafty. we spoke to one resident, shauna smith, her and her husband have filed a complaint questioning the legitimacy of this election. she claims it came from a pot dispensary in downtown los angeles. this brings in the issue of stakeholders, people coming from outside the district to vote. eagle rock has become a battleground in this fight for medical marijuana dispensaries

as other dispensaries in southern california are closing, people are coming to eagle rock because for all intents and purposes, they have been very friendly. there's 15 dispensaries in eagle rock if you can believe it within a mile and a half. it's not that big of a town, about 30,000 people. >> imembarrassed to ask you this, but i most. are the flyers effective? >> well, shauna smith says yes. last year 90 people turned out for this local election. this year, carol, there was 800 people. she says she has proof at least 300 of those 800 people voted because of this flyer but still no one is taking credit for it. we don't know where it came from. >> i'm sure you will get to the bottom of it. >> we're investigating. >> thank you, nick. cycling's governing body has delivered the biggest hit to lance armstrong's legend. they stripped him of his seven tour de france titles and banned him from the sport. it follows the finding of overwhelming evidence of armstrong doping. here is the head of the international cycling union three hours ago. >> lance armstrong has no place

in cycling, so he deserves to be forgotten in cycling now. >> victor blackwell is in austin, texas, where lance armstrong spoke yesterday. welcome. >> reporter: good morning, carol. he spoke to about 4,300 riders as part of the livestrong challenge, but he did not mention just before the start of that ride anything about the usada's claim of the overwhelming evidence that he doped. no mention of his future with livestrong. he stepped down as chairman last week. he just gave a message of encouragement and said when people ask him how he's doing, he says he's been better but he's also been worse. now, i can tell you we just spoke with the armory sports organization, the company that runs the tour de france, and they've said that they will not ask for those seven yellow jerseys back, but there were also about 3 million euros which is about almost $4 million in prize money, and they've said that the international cycling union will have to determine if

they're going to ask for that money back, carol. >> i was just curious, i mean, you were among the crowd. when lance armstrong spoke to the crowd and said he'd had better days, what was the crowd's reaction? >> reporter: well, listen, this is where he lives. this is his hometown, his organization is based here. we're actually standing outside of the livestrong headquarters waiting for a response to those strong words this morning. they were very supportive. there were applause and from the people we spoke with, they support both livestrong and lance armstrong. here is what they told us. >> maybe people are jealous maybe. maybe he's famous, maybe he's rich, and people are out to destroy him. >> i'm afraid that people will just turn against the foundation because of what lance may or may not have done, but, again, it's not about him. it's about helping those that need help. >> they've raised half a billion, $500 million in 15 years, and, you know, he's a

survivor himself and to me at this point that's what it's all about. supporting livestrong, lance armstrong, and i know he stepped down as chairman but he's still on the board and come on, he is livestrong. there is no doubt. >> he made a wise decision to step down and just give a little bit of separation from the foundation, but i don't think in -- i think time will heal that. >> reporter: over the weekend livestrong had a very successful fund-raising operation. they report that they've raised $4.2 million, but after today's announcement from the international cycling union, there could be another shoe to drop. the international olympic committee is considering stripping lance of the 2000 cycling medal that he won in sydney. carol? >> victor blackwell, reporting live from austin, texas. thank you. there's a ceo who is looking for some thanks from you. we'll tell you who it is and give you about 182 billion reasons why he may be out of line. questions?

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it is 15 minutes past the hour. time to check our top stories.

for the first time a native american has been named a saint. the 17th century woman known as lily of the mohawk was canonized at st. piter's square. pope den bikt said she lived a life radiant with faith and purity. president obama pledging federal resources in the investigation of a deadly shooting in wisconsin. police say radcliffe haughton shot seven women killing three at a suburban milwaukee salon on sunday before he shot himself. the incident comes days after a judge issued a restraining order to keep him away from his ex-wife. the san francisco giants have forced a game seven with st. louis. ryan vogelsong struck out nine cardinals in seven innings and the giants went on to win 6-1. game seven tonight in san francisco, weather permitting. the winner, of course, moves on to the world series. good news for you, the consumer. gas prices have dropped for the 11th straight day.

prices are down 8 cents in the past two weeks and some 20 cents from their peak earlier this month. the average price for a gallon of gas is now $3.67. it's expected to drop another 30 cents or so by late november. some analysts say it could dip below 3 bucks a gallon. hey, thanks for the bailout. that's what the ceo of aig is saying that you should be saying to him. the company was given a $182 billion bailout by the u.s. government. it's repaid the fed that amount plus profit, and now aig wants you to thank them. joining me now is alison kosik from the new york stock exchange. seriously? >> seriously. this is exactly what he's saying. look, he has never been the kind of guy to sort of pussyfoot around with words. he's always had a brash, direct approach. you know, and he did this interview with "new york" magazine and it is raising a lot of eyebrows because the ceo of

aig is essentially saying, look, the government should thank us for paying back our bailout money and keeping the company from imploding. benmosche took over aig in 2009 from hank greenburg. aig was one of the biggest wall street companies the government swooped in to rescue during the height of the article. benmosche says of his company, we have done all the right things. somebody should say, by golly, those aig people made a promise and they are living up to a promise. we're left with a major part of the economy in america. they're going to make a profit on top of everything else they've got. god bless america, god bless aig, and god bless tiny tim. there it looks like he's referring to tim geithner, treasury secretary. but about the profit, what he's referring to, carol, is the fact that the new york fed made an $18 billion profit in its stake. the other part of the bailout, that came from the treasury, and it still owns some aig shares and the treasury department is

losing less than expected as it sells that stock. and you look at aig shares, they've gained more than 50% this year. carol? >> well, yippy. isn't this the same guy who took off for croatia just after taking over a sinking aig because it was the first zin fin dell harvest. >> it's not apologizing for that. you kind of get the sense he thinks vacations like those are justified. he thinks he kept the company that could have very well have collapsed. he kept that from collapsing and taking the economy along with it. he says the government wanted to break up aig, but he recognized how crucial it was to the financial system and kept it together. and guess what? he's not against those big pay packages either. he believes that's what the employees who run these companies are worth. and there's another wall streeter who is quoted in this article and he compares aig to lehman which wasn't able to survive on its own, and he says it's a different sensation going on at aig that the company is

kind of coming back to life, and they really take pride in paying back the good old taxpayer. carol? >> okay. thanks, alison. >> no problem. >> hope he enjoyed his zinfandel. i bet he bought cases and cases. >> i bet he did. tonight's topic will be foreign policy, but the winner may be the one who is best able to pivot to domestic issues, such as the economy. we'll have a preview. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm so into it, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 hours can go by before i realize tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that i haven't even looked away from my screen. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that kind of focus... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 that's what i have when i trade. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and the streetsmart edge trading platform from charles schwab... tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...helps me keep an eye on what's really important to me.

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now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you, seriously? are there still undecided voters? 15 days until the election, hard to believe, right?

because it seems like this election has been going on since time began. most of you want it to be over already, except for maybe undecided voters. i mean, seriously? how could that be? mitt romney has been running for president since forever, and everybody knows barack obama, our president for the past four years. and the two men are like cats and dogs, as different in economic policy as you can be. i'm not the only one befuddled. the great undecided are now the butt of jokes. >> when is the election? how soon do we have to decide? >> what are the names of the two people running? and be specific. >> who is the president right now? is he or she running? because if so, experience is maybe something we should consider. >> how long is the president's term of office? one year? two years? three years? life? >> oh, geez. if you're wondering who the experts say those undecided voters are, business insider

analyzed a poll released by politico and george washington university and came up with a composite. she, the undecided voter is a she, white, protestant, 18 to 29 years old and single. employed, not a college graduate. a self-identified independent who splits tickets when voting. she lives in a union household and is considered low income and, she, she did not watch those debates. now, to win the election obama and romney will have to find this elusive voter, and they'll have to win her over. so for the next 15 days get ready to be bombarded with political ads, whether you have decided or not. the talk back question this morning, seriously? are there still undecided voters? facebook.com/carolcnn. your responses later this hour. promoting a gay lifestyle or teaching tolerance? a school program aimed at helping students deal with bullies coming under fire. but is the fire warranted?

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and good morning to you. thank you so much for joining us. we're coming up on 30 minutes past the hour. time to check on our top stories. president obama and mitt romney face-off tonight in the third and final presidential debate. this one will focus on foreign policy. romney has surged in the polls this month though a new "washington post"/abc news poll suggests voters favor the president on dealing with global affairs. cycling's governing body today banned lance armstrong from the sport and stripped him of his seven tour de france titles. it follows the finding of overwhelming evidence that armstrong doped. also eyeglass maker oakley said it's ending his relationship with armstrong. cuba steps up efforts to douse any more speculation that fidel castro is on his deathbed.

an article included pictures of castro reportedly taken on saturday. you see them there. we all know what's at stake tonight, the presidential race is tight and tonight's debate s could help decide it. voters have a clear choice according to this ad. >> obama has brought 30,000 soldiers back from afghanistan and has a responsible plan to end the war. romney calls it obama's biggest mistake. it's time to stop fighting over there and start rebuilding here. >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message. >> with me now, cnn contributors maria cardona, a democratic strategist and anna navarro, a republican strategist. welcome to you both. >> good morning, carol. >> thank you, carol. >> good morning. is it really that clear cut? romney wants war and the president wants to rebuild america, maria? >> of course it is, carol.

no, look, obviously these things are a lot more nuanced than that, but i think what's important about that ad and what the president will underscore tonight is that thus far the only thing that we've been getting from mitt romney in terms of what his foreign policy would be is a whole lot of bluster, a whole lot of blunder, and not a whole lot of air there. i think what he underscores is that the president has been very steady, has been courageous. he has really led at the moments where it really counts. i'm sure he will talk about osama bin laden. i'm sure he will talk about fixing our alliances across the board overseas. while mitt romney, whether he offers something that is not any different from what the president is doing or whether he talks about going to war, going to war, going to war is not what this country needs at this delicate time. >> anna, maria has a point because governor romney's plan for even our policies in the middle east are quite similar to obama's still. so how will he differentiate

himself tonight? >> i think he's going to differentiate himself when it comes to leadership and leading through strength as opposed to leading from behind, which is something that the obama administration has been accused of doing. it's actually their own words, but also, look, you know, when it comes to this ad, i think obama -- president obama is playing to his base. this was a campaign promise. i'm going to end the war, i'm going to bring the troops home, and i think he's got to energize his base. the other thing is, you know, he's in -- right now in a tough spot. he used to be leading on this issue of foreign policy. it's not supposed to be mitt romney's bailiwick. he's a governor, and yet we've seen that in the labs few weeks he's made great strides in closing the began on the foreign policy issue, who would be better at handling foreign policy. it's something that's got to be of great concern for president obama right now. i think you're going it see a very heated debate, a lot like

what we saw last week. >> i think though that blogs and conservative media kind of like, you know, kind of like control the conversation, and voters really do listen to that. they never heard president obama debate mitt romney on foreign policy, and maybe that will make a difference. i mean, will it be all important to president obama, maria, to win this debate? >> there's no question about that, carol. i mean, we know that this race is as tight as it can be, and even though mitt romney has somewhat narrowed the gap on foreign policy, voters across the board by ten points or even more in polls still see this president has a huge advantage on foreign policy. but i think what is going to be very important for both candidates to try to do, carol, is even though foreign policy is critical, it really does not trump economic policy. so i think what you're going to see the candidates try to do, if they can, if they can find a way, a pivot back to why this is important from an economic

security standpoint, and i think that the president will be able to do that in terms of all the decisions that he has made in terms of making americans a lot more secure here at home and about how it is time now to really focus on rebuilding america and rebuilding the middle class, which he wants to do versus mitt romney who really the only thing he wants to do is rebuild millionaires and billionaires and i think that will be -- >> oh, maria. and along those lines, mitt romney, you know, everybody said when mitt romney started running for president in earnest that the conversation should focus only on the economy. does that mean mr. romney will pivot to the economy tonight as well and we'll get more of that than foreign policy? >> the economy continues being the number one issue, but it turns out that americans can walk and chew gum at the same time and that we are interested in a variety of issues whether it's women's issues, foreign policy, yes, the economy. we want specifics on housing, on tax plans, on medicare. so it turns out we have a

variety of interests even though the economy continues to be our top concern. i think -- look, i think there's a lot of cloth to cut on the foreign policy issues and it's something we haven't seen fleshed out during this campaign very fully so far. there's issues like syria. there's issues like benghazi. there's what's going to happen with iran, what's happening with the relationship with israel. so there's a lot to discuss, and i hope and i suspect maria does, too, that they touch latin america. i am pretty tired of campaign after campaign promising me they're not going to neglect latin america and then four years -- then they get elected and we have four years of neglect toward that region. >> anna navarro, maria cardona, thank you so much for the conversation. appreciate it. >> thank you so much, carol. cnn's live debate coverage starts tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. mix it up at lunch is an effort to stop bullying and get kids to sit with other kids they don't normally associate with. but conservative groups claims the lunch day really promotes

homosexuality and that i am the gay gestapo. we'll talk about that.

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october 30th is mix it up at lunch day for thousands of schools across the country. the teaching tolerance event promotes anti-bullying and urges kids to mix up their social groups. i will speak with the director of that program in a moment but first, i want you to hear this. last week on this very program i had a rather contentious conversation with a member of the american family association, an organization which alleges mix it up at lunch day is really an effort to promote a gay lifestyle. listen. >> the southern poverty law center, they're out to destroy the afa and frc. that makes them the bullying group, that makes them the hate group. they're the ones that want to silence any view that would criticize the normalization of homosexual behavior and we know from the cdc and from the fda

not part of the vast right wing conspiracy that homosexual behavior has the same health risks -- >> that's just not true. i'm going to end this interview now because that's just not true. mr. fischer, thanks for sharing your views, i guess. yes, i ended that conversation. his organization believes the event, this mix it up at lunch day, has some hidden agenda to promote a homosexual lifestyle. a few days ago he came after me. >> homosexual behavior is immoral, it is unnatural, and it is unhealthy. that is a simple straightforward statement of fact. but for the gay gestapo, they're going to call that an insult. now, carol costello, she showed you what this looks like. i mean, carol costello when i was on with her cnn, she showed you what the gay gestapo looks like in action because she cut my water off just as soon as i started to talk about the health risks of homosexual behavior.

>> well, mr. fischer if that's the definition of the gay gestapo, then i'm a proud card carrying member. we thought it was important to showcase what was a genuine attempt to tolerate all kids inform school. here is maureen costello. welcome, maureen. >> thank you, carol. nice to be here. >> i'm glad to have you. first, let's get in out of the way. no relation. you're probably an irish costello. >> i am an irish costello, and i'd be happy to claim you, but you're right, no relation. >> i'm the italian version of costel costello. so let's be clear. could you explain your program's mission? >> yes. my program's mission is simply to help children get past labels and stereotypes and understand that individuals are not defined by the group they may belong to. so whatever those groups are at school, and sometimes they're based on race and sometimes they're based on class and

sometimes they're based on ability, what we do is we encourage kids to sit with someone different and have usually a pretty structured conversation in which they find that they have something in common. >> and if your program -- it's gone on for 11 years, it's not like it's something new. >> it is not new. it's been going on for 11 years. it's been very, very successful in a lot of schools and in schools that do it well, it helps promote a positive environment. what we want to have is a positive environment where every child who walks into a school feels that he or she belongs there and they feel welcome. >> and i know thousands of schools participate and this mr. fischer's group came out. have any schools pulled out from the program because of his allegations? >> probably about 250 schools have been intimidated into pulling out. many of them have said to us, we're still doing it but we can't do it on that day and

we're going to call it something else. mainly they just felt harassed by people calling them, often strangers, who were being fed complete misinformation. in fact, i mean, the whole thing is rather bizarre when you consider how innocuous mix it up really is. it's benign. it's meant to help those kids who are really marginalized who sit by themselves to be -- feel like they're part of something. >> so why do you think you've come under attack this particular year? >> well, you know, the southern poverty law center, of which teaching tolerance is a part, has named the afa ha as a hate group not based on their positions but based on their use of lies and demonizing pr propaganda because what they really want to seem to want to do is stir up hatred towards the lgbt community, and as you found out being labeled the gay gestapo and as i have found out after this campaign, many people

trust the afa, and what it does is we have really gotten an avalanche of hate mail, and it really can be seen as nothing but hate mail. they hate the fact, a lot of hate going on here, they dislike the fact they've been named a hate group. they claim it's because they're opposed -- because of their biblical positions. that is not the reason. it is because of the lies. and you heard some of that when he was on with you, went off on this thing about hitler and the storm troopers. it is just a bizarre preoccupation, and bryan fischer sees the homosexual agenda in a dish of ice cream. >> i hope your mix it up day is a huge success and thank you for being on and clarifying for us and sharing your thoughts. maureen costello, thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. it happens to so many of us, the phone rings at dinnertime, we answer it, and it is another recorded call. you know those robocalls?

now, the government wants you to help figure out how to stop those robocalls, and it will pay you 50,000 bucks. [ female announcer ] introducing yoplait greek 100. 100% new. 100% mmm... wow, that is mmm... it's so mmm you might not believe it's a hundred calories. new yoplait greek 100. it is so good.

the stakes are high and, of course, the clock is ticking. we're just a little more than ten hours from the third and final presidential debate. the race is deadlocked according to this morning's new cnn poll of polls. the merging of five national polls show governor romney and president obama tied at an ironic 47% among likely voters. cnn's farid zakaria joins us with a closer look. he's editor-at-large and columnist for "time" magazine. welcome. >> thanks. >> you know, a part of me hopes that people are really intrigued by tonight's debate and its subject matter, foreign policy, but i do wonder how many americans really care deeply

about that issue. >> well, the substance of the issue they don't care about. foreign policy is a little bit different from domestic policy, and domestic policy you're trying to see whether the candidate agrees with you or whether you agree with him. it's often a checklist of things, abortion, the economy, taxes. in foreign policy, foreign policy is really a prism through which people look at the character of the person, the values, the strength, the consistency. so it is important, but not in a direct way in the way that domestic policy is. >> and it's interesting you say that because on the front of the drudge report today there's an array of pictures, and they show president obama supposedly bowing to these foreign leaders, continuing this apology tour, something i'm sure that mitt romney will bring up tonight. >> well, i think he'll bring up the apology tour. i don't know to what extent he'll bring up those photographs. three of the four people there are, in fact, kings or queens,

and what proesident obama was doing was a kind of gesture of respect i suppose, but certainly he's going to try to present himself as a tougher, more, you know -- somebody who doesn't apologize for america, not that there are actual instances that president obama actually apologized, but that's the line he's going to use. i think the key for romney is going to be to come across a little bit less as an attack dog and more as a president. >> i know, because the last debate he was very aggressive in his body language. actually both candidates were very aggressive, but in this particular debate they will be sitting at a table, they will be close together, and maybe they'll look at one another and maybe they won't, but i don't know. i think that at least the republican base likes aggressiveness in their candidate. >> i think they do, and that's, you know, this will be governor romney's 26th debate i think

having done 24 or something like that in the republican primary. and he has gotten very good at it, but he's also gotten a little aggressive because the republican base does like that. i wonder whether that works as well with the general electorate, but, you know, expect a very strong performance from him. he's a very good debater. he's one of the best debaters i have ever seen in presidential politics. >> he was very smooth. i'd just like to touch on the subject of libya before you go because how can president obama -- i mean, he did a great job in the second debate, sort of crafting his answer to his advantage, but it will be tougher this time around. >> it will be tougher because there are, you know, in a sense two separate issues. there's the issue of whether or not we were unprepared, and i think on that, you know, substantively i would say, you know, it's very tough. in retrospect you can always say you should have accepted that request for extra security, but,

remember, there are 265 diplomatic missions around the world. any given week i guarantee you two dozen ever them are asking for more security and you have limited resources. it's not clear what you do. but that gets conflated with the aftermath of the crisis where there was a certain clumsiness in terms of how the obama administration handled things. i don't think they were deliberately trying to deceive anybody but they handled the situation badly, they got their facts wrong, they went to the press too early, and as a result the whole thing gets conflated into a failed policy. that's what president obama is going to have to deal with. >> well, can't wait to hear what you have to say before the debate as well. fareed zakaria, thank you for joining us in the "newsroom" today. >> always a pleasure. >> cnn's live debate coverage starts tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. the federal government wants to give you 50,000 bucks, but there's a catch. you have to solve the riddle of stopping those annoying robocalls.

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we get bombarded by those unwanted and illegal robocalls, and now the government wants to pay $50,000 to anyone to could

help stop them. shawn is the founder of stoppoliticalcalls.org. welcome. >> welcome, carol. >> so i know you are at the federal trade commission summit of robocalls last week. why are we still being hounded by robocalls if they're illegal? >> well, that's why they had this summit. while the ftc has done actually a great job shutting down the robocalls that they can get to, unfortunately the beauty of the internet, which has driven down the cost of telecommunications worldwide, has also made it very easy for robocall scammers and robocallers who are calling illegally to also get around the law. >> but there's already a national do not call registry in place. does that even matter? >> well, it definitely matters if you're a legitimate organization and you're following the law. but if you're a telemarketer and a scammer, it's so easy now for

you to essentially make your phone calls from offshore, use the internet, and use what is called caller i.d. spoofing to make billions of calls that are virtually untraceable and also out of the reach of the federal trade commission and the u.s. government. >> okay. so the u.s. government has been trying to stop these robocalls and it's now reaching out to the public for ideas, and even offering a $50,000 award. that's crazy. >> right. well, this is a great example of using technology and crowd sources, people talk about kick starter, to put a challenge out there, to get the ingenuity of entrepreneurs to go after this issue that is really not a legal issue because the law is there, and if you are a legitimate organization and you follow the law, the ftc is not going to come after you, but if you want

to scam people, it's very easy to do so. >> let's get back to the contest. so if i have a great idea, where do i go to enter the contest? >> sure. you go to challenge.gov which is where they're hosting this, and you fill out a form, and you register, and the competition starts october 26th and goes through january 17th. at that point they will take all the submissions and start voting on them. >> okay. well, i hope someone comes up with a great idea. sha shaun dakin, thank you. >> thank you. >> cnn "newsroom" continues now with ashleigh banfield. but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have a decongestant. no way. [ male announcer ] sorry. alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms plus has a fast-acting decongestant to relieve your stuffy nose. thanks. [ male announcer ] you're welcome.

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